BOEM to Restore Dam Neck Naval Annex Coastal Area (USA)

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with United States Navy for oceanfront and dune system stabilization and restoration at the Dam Neck Annex at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia Beach, Va.

BOEM and the Navy signed the agreement on July 12, 2013.

The MOA will allow for the use of up to 700,000 cubic yards of Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) sand. BOEM manages non-energy minerals obtained from the OCS, including sand, gravel and shell resources for coastal restoration and protection. This project will stabilize and restore the Dam Neck Annex oceanfront and dune system.

The sand dune will be 5,282 feet long, 20 feet high, and 50 feet wide. The beach renourishment portion of the project is two miles long, including the approximately one mile area in front of the dune system.

The sediment will be sourced from Sandbridge Shoal Borrow Areas A and B which lie approximately three to four miles offshore. Work on the project is expected to begin between fiscal year (FY) 2013 and FY 2016, and is expected to take approximately three months to complete construction.

The restoration project represents the third construction cycle for beach nourishment at the Dam Neck Annex, and is intended to fully replenish the beach and reshape the constructed dune system to 1996 dimensions. The project will help reduce erosion and will enable the dune system to continue providing storm protection along the Naval Station Oceana, Dam Neck Annex.

Initial construction of the beach nourishment project occurred in 1996, with maintenance construction occurring in 2004. The beaches at Dam Neck Annex are prone to erosion from seasonal hurricanes, tropical storms, nor’easters, and winter conditions that direct wind and wave actions upon the installation’s beaches.

The Dam Neck Annex is an important defense facility primarily focused on Navy Fleet training and support activities.

The base is located on Virginia Beach’s Atlantic shore, near the site where the Jamestown settlers first landed.

BOEM has the authority to convey, on a noncompetitive basis, the rights to resources for shore, beach or wetland restoration projects, or for use in construction projects funded in whole or part, or authorized by the federal government. In exercising this authority, BOEM may issue a negotiated non-competitive lease agreement for the use of OCS sand to a qualifying entity.

BOEM has invested more than $30 million over the past 20 years to identify non-energy resources on the OCS, conduct world-class scientific research, and lease OCS resources to coastal communities in need. Information from environmental research and resource identification has informed environmental assessment and leasing decisions concerning the use of OCS sand resources in beach nourishment and coastal restoration.

BOEM promotes energy independence, environmental protection and economic development through responsible, science-based management of offshore conventional and renewable energy.

[mappress]

Press Release, July 31, 2013